


we're doing this backwards

by VolxdoSioda



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Get Together, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 03:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17438657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: Noctis meets his husbands in the future first.





	we're doing this backwards

**1.**

 

The first time it happens, Noctis doesn't notice. 

He's too busy staggering away, stasis dripping from his magical channels like water from a broken pipe, trying to get behind a rock or tree or  _something_ long enough to recover his breath. There's a great gaping wound on his side, and his head's feeling a little fuzzy. His toe catches something - a rock, a branch - and he goes stumbling forward--

_"SIX!"_

His head hits ground, and he lays there, dazed. He expects any moment one of the Sabertusks will come back to finish him - he can't hear Gladio or Prompto anymore, but he can hear Ignis coming towards him, cursing up a storm.

_"Oh hell--wound--leeding out--vus--"_

Hands pull at his body, rolling him over and tugging him into a vaguely upright position. There's the faint sound of something cracking, and liquid drips down his face. His hearing starts to come back. His eyes are already sliding shut as his body works overtime trying to heal him. He knows he sees Ignis before he goes under, but... the clothing is different.

 _When did he find time to change shirts?_ Noctis wonders, and he rolls his head to look over at the other person supporting him, but the movement sends a sharp lance of agony behind his eyes, and he passes out before he knows who it is that cracked a potion over him.

He wakes up back in the tent, in a haven. Ignis is pacing outside, while Gladio and Prompto sit in chairs around the fire, grim and silent. Their gazes all snap up as Noctis stumbles out, and Ignis makes a pained noise and rushes forward, supporting him as his knees go weak. "Highness!"

"Noct!"

"Noctis!"

"M'fine," Noctis mumbles, burying his face in Ignis' shirt. "Yer okay, right?"

"We're  _fine,_ Noct--" Ignis starts, and his voice cracks. He takes in a deep breath, wrapping arms tight around Noctis' shoulders. "You almost died, though. We... we found you unconscious over by the river. If you hadn't taken a potion when you had--"

"Nngh? Didn't take a potion. You gave me one."

"What? Noctis, we were all the way over on the other side of the clearing. You must be mis-remembering." Ignis smooths his hair back from his face. "But we're all fine now, darling. Just rest, please. Leave the rest to us for tonight. Please."

Noctis still feels drained, so he hums, and lets Ignis hold him. "Mkay."

In the morning, he'll have forgotten about the potion, about the wounds, because Prompto will distract him with pictures and Gladio will want to see his wounds to make sure they aren't getting infected. It's only later that he'll think back on it, and dismiss seeing Ignis in a different shirt as something his brain conjured up to comfort him.

 

**2.**

 

The second time, Noctis definitely notices. Mainly because one second and the next, he's stumbling through a clearing, clutching a gaping wound in his stomach, and the next he's skidding across linoelum flooring, losing his balance and knocking over a precious antique as he hits the ground.

Footsteps come running, and Noctis, dizzy and terrified but still willing to fight, summons the Engine Blade to hand.

He doesn't expect to see Ignis round the corner and stop. Doesn't expect to see  _Ravus_ right on his heels. But they're older. Both of them. Ravus has a beard, and Ignis--

Ignis is  _blind._

"Noctis--" Ravus starts, and Ignis sniffs the air and hisses.

"He's wounded. Rav, get the medical--"

Noctis shoves himself back, wincing as it pulls his wound, and snarls, " _Stay back!"_

Ignis, one step forward, locks up. Ravus doesn't pause, and goes darting back where he came from. 

"Noctis," Ignis says softly. "It's me. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Bullshit!" He shakes his head. "You can't be you, because I just  _saw_ you. I don't know what trick you're playing, but--"

"You and I met when you were five, and I was seven," Ignis interrupts. "King Regis introduced us, and told you I was to be your friend. From that point, I've devoted my life to you, as your friend, your traveling companion, and now your Hand. I know this is confusing, but if you think for a moment I'm going to let  _my Prince bleed out in my kitchen_ when I have the power to stop it, you are sorely mistaken."

There's something in his tone that sends shivers down Noctis' spine. Even without his eyes, Noctis can tell there's the same look in them he's seen before - the look that says  _I will move heaven and earth for you._

His grip on his Engine Blade falters. He hesitates.  _Can it really be him? But how-- No. No, nobody else would know that. It's him. It's gotta be. Blind or not._

"Noct," Ignis says, steel behind his tone, just as Ravus reappears. "Please."

He's never been able to say no to Ignis.

"...Fine. But at least tell me where the heck I am."

"My manor in Tenebrae," Ravus supplies, as Ignis slips forward like a ghost, taking the medical kit with him. He wastes no time in shoving Noctis shirt off, lips pinching at the wound. It seems even without his eyes, he's still capable of telling just how much danger Noctis is in. "Ten years down the line from your time."

"Ten years?" The  _how, when, why_ rush to his tongue immediately before stilling. He doubts either of them will understand how or why he got here anymore than he does. "You still hate me?"

Ravus arches an unimpressed eyebrow. "Do you think I still hate you?"

"Does a Zu fly?"

"Gentlemen," Ignis warns, and Noctis subsides.

"No," Ravus says, uncharacteristically gentle. "I don't hate you, Noctis."

Noctis would say more, but Ignis chooses that moment to pull a needle and thread out of the medical kit, which pretty much tells Noctis it's time to shut up so he doesn't bite his tongue.

When he returns, it's with ten more stitches than he started the day with, a sharp chastisement from Ignis to  _be good to us back there, love,_ and a silent nod of support from Ravus and the words  _I don't hate you, Noctis_ rolling around in his brain. 

The world has officially gone topsy turvy, he decides as Gladio hollars his name, and he hollars right back. But at least in the future he's not completely alone.

 

**3.**

 

It's an extreme case of bad luck that sends him tumbling into Ignis and Ravus' bed the third time. 

This time, Noctis had gotten cocky with the Kingatrices. Without Gladio around to pull the enemy's attention off of him, he'd gotten mauled badly, and now in the darkness the softness of the bed - the coldness of death creeping down his veins. It had been a choice between himself or Prom up against the bird, and he'd chosen himself.

Which would be fine. Except for two things. He's tumbled into bed just as Ignis and Ravus are using it, and they're currently...  _engaged._ In what sounds like an absolute filthy time. 

Noctis is not jealous. He's really, really not.

He doesn't want to interrupt, but he also doesn't want to drop a dead body by them and ruin their evening. So he waits until the groans and moans have petered out some, and then, attempting for his father's delicacy, clears his throat.

The silence that it gets him almost sends him right to death from embarrassment.

"Noct?!" Ignis rasps, sounding... well, if Noctis isn't being too blunt, like he's been royally fucked. Literally.

"Sorry," he croaks out. "To interrupt." His ears are burning as the light switches on, and he makes sure his head is turned in the opposite direction. There's a sound of bodies separating (don't look, don't look  _do not look Noctis Lucis Caelum)_ and a sharp inhale.

"Gods, Noctis," Ravus hisses, and rolls right over, disheveled appearance and all. "What do you keep  _doing_ to yourself?"

"Listen," Noctis tries. "I'm trying, okay? I'm not coming here intentionally."

"That," Ravus says, and reaches down, calm as you please and tears the bedding apart. "Was not what I meant."

"You don't have to--"

"Noctis." And somehow just that one word is enough to send chills down Noctis' spine. So far the only one who's been able to do that has been  _Ignis._ "Listen to me. It is not a hardship to care for you. This is your home too. You will always be welcome, no matter what time period you come from." He carefully wipes the blood away from the wound, and Noctis asserts his gaze up and back, as Ravus, still naked, leans over him. 

_La-di-la, the wall is blue, la-di-la, la-di-la, the curtains are nice, such lovely colors._

"Aren't you and Ignis... married or something?" Noctis mumbles. "Why would I be here?"

Ravus doesn't answer that. Just gives Noctis a slow, searching look, and hums. "Think on it," he advises as Ignis returns to the room with that kit again. "I'm certain you're intelligent enough to figure it out if you do."

(In truth, he already knows. Because it's impossible not to see the rope between himself and Ignis, and Ravus and Ignis, and in some dark, twisted ways, the rope between himself and Ravus. If everyone's wised up in ten years, well. Things can go different.)

They all but shove him into a shower this time when they're done patching him up, and Noctis figures it's a good opportunity to let them finish what he interrupted. Five minutes later however, Ravus is threatening to come drag him out, and Ignis is offering to cook dinner for him before he returns.

"It's fine, I'm fine--"

He is ignored by both parties, and dragged back to a newly-made bed, where Ravus proceeds to dry him, dress him in warm clothes, and feed him when Ignis returns with food. When he finally returns to the camp site, his face is a permanent pink, his ears feel like they have steam coming out of them, and looking at Ignis results in butterflies in his stomach.

The next morning when Ravus shows up at an Imperial base to taunt him, he tries to stop looking at his lips and wondering what it would be like to kiss him long enough to listen to the threats being spewed. Evidently it doesn't work, because Ravus glares at Noctis like he's personally offended him, and stalks off after a short while. 

 

**4.**

 

The fourth time, Noctis isn't bleeding out for once. He lands in the bed again, this time on top of his... husbands? Boyfriends?... who were apparently sleeping.

"Sorry!" he squeaks, when both men grunt and he feels them come awake. "Sorry, sorry, I'll just--"

The light comes on, both Ignis and Ravus grabbing a shoulder and flipping him onto his back before he can get further than that. Fingers push his shirt up, and then when they find nothing there, push up the legs of his shorts to check.

"He's not dying for once," Ravus mutters. "Miracles do happen."

Ignis cracks a yawn, and goes to turn the light off. "Back to bed then, my doves."

" _Doves?"_ Noctis mouths, and then squeaks when Ravus  _picks him up,_ plops him between them, and then curls an arm around him and plants a kiss on his head.

"Go to sleep, Noctis. Whatever's going on on your side, put it down for five seconds and rest."

Noctis opens his mouth to argue... and then slowly closes it. Here, he is safe. He isn't a King, isn't a Prince. He's just... Noctis. And Ignis and Ravus are probably tired, and deserve some sleep. He can't interrupt that.

"Sleep," Ravus murmurs, and Noctis shivers at the timbre of his voice. "You're thinking too much. I can feel it."

Noctis closes his eyes. Thinks of Ignis and his devotion, and how calm and centered Ravus seems to be here.

He's safe here. He can breathe. So that's what he does.

He wakes up on Gladio's back, being trekked back towards the car. "Dude," Prompto says when he spots that Noctis is awake. "You fall asleep in the weirdest spots."

"Where was I?"

"Back of an Arba. Thing didn't even care, but  _dude."_

Noctis cracks a yawn, and tries not to melt when Ignis runs fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I know."

They wind up running into Ravus again, who is oddly non-hostile for once, stiffly offering them directions towards the haven, and watching Noctis the entire time. Noctis, heart thundering in his chest, pretends not to notice that, and especially pretends not to notice the way Ravus looks at Ignis and Ignis looks at him. 

 _Puzzle pieces falling into place,_ he thinks, and wonders if he's a good husband in the future. Gods he hopes so.


End file.
